After midnight

Photography by Peter M. Julian

Nighthawks and their habitats

Study rooms on the northwest corner of Thomas More Apartments, Monday, September 24, 1:07 a.m.

Ricardo Martins supervises the custodial department’s third shift, 71 employees who work through the night, 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. He says you can find students in almost every academic building on campus after midnight. They are studying, mostly, but also practicing music, polishing dance routines, rehearsing presentations. The custodians and students “work around each other,” says Martins. “We hold off on a room if they seem busy, and if they pull apart a classroom—to practice some dance, say—they put it back before they leave.” Student numbers dwindle after three o’clock. “If they stay later than that,” Martins says, “it’s usually with their heads down on the table.” The night shift takes many forms on campus. University photographer Peter Julian, a self-described early bird, captured the following scenes during the opening weeks of the fall semester.